1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor packages and methods of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to semiconductor packages, each of which includes a semiconductor chip and a die pad encapsulated by a package body, and methods of fabricating such semiconductor packages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fabrication of a semiconductor package typically involves mounting a semiconductor chip on an upper surface of a die pad included in a lead frame and forming a package body to encapsulate the semiconductor chip and the die pad.
When the semiconductor chip is a highly integrated chip or a power circuit chip for controlling high power, a large amount of heat may be generated by the semiconductor chip. In order to dissipate the heat outside of the semiconductor chip, a heat sink may be installed on a lower surface of the package body (i.e., on a lower surface of the die pad). In this case, a distance between the lower surface of the die pad and the heat sink must be maintained constant so as to improve a heat dissipation characteristic.
Accordingly, a support pin for applying pressure to the die pad may be used in order to prevent the die pad from bending during the encapsulation process. However, after the encapsulation process is finished, when the support pin is removed, a pinhole may be formed in the package body to expose the die pad. Thus, the pinhole is filled with insulating resin in order to externally insulate the die pad exposed in the pinhole.
However, since the pinhole has a high aspect ratio, when the insulating resin is filled in the pinhole, a void may be easily formed. In this case, it is difficult to insulate the die pad from external air. Also, a very large amount of insulating resin is required to fill the entire pinhole.